The four largest islands are Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera. Many minor islands and islets are close to the larger islands, including Cabrera, Dragonera, and S'Espalmador. The islands have a Mediterranean climate, and the four major islands are all popular tourist destinations. Ibiza, in particular, is known as an international party destination, attracting many of the world's most popular DJs to its nightclubs.[5] The islands' culture and cuisine are similar to those of the rest of Spain, but have their own distinctive features.

Etymology

The official name of the Balearic Islands in Catalan is Illes Balears, while in Spanish, they are known as the Islas Baleares. The term "Balearic" derives from Greek (Γυμνησίαι/Gymnesiae and Βαλλιαρεῖς/Balliareis).[7] In Latin, it is Baleares.

Of the various theories on the origins of the two ancient Greek and Latin names for the islands—Gymnasiae and Baleares—classical sources provide two.

According to the Lycophron'sAlexandra verses, the islands were called Γυμνησίαι/Gymnesiae (γυμνός/gymnos, meaning naked in Greek) because its inhabitants were often nude, probably because of the year-round benevolent climate.

The Greek and Roman writers generally derive the name of the people from their skill as slingers (βαλεαρεῖς/baleareis, from βάλλω/ballo: ancient Greek meaning "to launch"), although Strabo regards the name as of Phoenician origin. He observed it was the Phoenician equivalent for lightly armoured soldiers the Greeks would have called γυμνῆτας/gymnetas.[8] The root bal does point to a Phoenician origin; perhaps the islands were sacred to the god Baal and the resemblance to the Greek root ΒΑΛ (in βάλλω/ballo) is accidental. Indeed, it was usual Greek practice to assimilate local names into their own language. But the common Greek name of the islands is not Βαλεαρεῖς/Baleareis, but Γυμνησίαι/Gymnesiai. The former was the name used by the natives, as well as by the Carthaginians and Romans,[9] while the latter probably derives from the light equipment of the Balearic troops γυμνῆται/gymnetae.[8]

Geology

The Balearic Islands are on a raised platform called the Balearic Promontory, and were formed by uplift. They are cut by a network of northwest to southeast faults.[10][11]

Geography and hydrography

Majorca

The main islands of the autonomous community are Majorca (Mallorca), Menorca/Minorca (Menorca), Ibiza (Eivissa/Ibiza), and Formentera, all popular tourist destinations. Amongst the minor islands is Cabrera, the location of the Cabrera Archipelago Maritime-Terrestrial National Park.

The islands can be further grouped, with Majorca, Menorca, and Cabrera as the Gymnesian Islands (Illes Gimnèsies), and Ibiza and Formentera as the Pityusic Islands (Illes Pitiüses officially in Catalan), also referred to as the Pityuses (or sometimes informally in English as the Pine Islands). Many minor islands or islets are close to the biggest islands, such as Es Conills, Es Vedrà, Sa Conillera, Dragonera, S'Espalmador, S'Espardell, Ses Bledes, Santa Eulària, Plana, Foradada, Tagomago, Na Redona, Colom, L'Aire, etc.

The Balearic Front is a sea density regime north of the Balearic Islands on the shelf slope of the Balearic Islands, which is responsible for some of the surface-flow characteristics of the Balearic Sea.[12]

Climate

Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, the Balearic Islands unsurprisingly have typical Mediterranean climates. The below-listed climatic data of the capital Palma are typical for the archipelago, with minor differences to other stations in Majorca, Ibiza, and Menorca.[13]

History

Ancient history

Map of the Balearic Islands

Little is recorded on the earliest inhabitants of the islands, though many legends exist. The story, preserved by Lycophron, that certain shipwrecked Greek Boeotians were cast nude on the islands, was evidently invented to account for the name Gymnesiae. Also, a tradition holds that the islands were colonised by Rhodes after the Trojan War.[8]

The islands had a very mixed population, of whose habits several strange stories are told. In some stories, the people were said to go naked or were clad only in sheepskins—whence the name of the islands (an instance of folk etymology)—until the Phoenicians clothed them with broad-bordered tunics. In other stories, they were naked only in the heat of summer.

Other legends allow that the inhabitants lived in hollow rocks and artificial caves, that they were remarkable for their love of women and would give three or four men as the ransom for one woman, that they had no gold or silver coin, and forbade the importation of the precious metals, so that those of them who served as mercenaries took their pay in wine and women instead of money. Their marriage and funeral customs, peculiar to Roman observers, are related by Diodorus Siculus (v. 18 book 6 chapter 5).

In ancient times, the islanders of the Gymnesian Islands (Illes Gimnèsies) constructed talayots, and were famous for their skill with the sling. As slingers, they served as mercenaries, first under the Carthaginians, and afterwards under the Romans. They went into battle ungirt, with only a small buckler, and a javelin burnt at the end, and in some cases tipped with a small iron point; but their effective weapons were their slings, of which each man carried three, wound round his head (Strabo p. 168; Eustath.), or, as seen in other sources, one round the head, one round the body, and one in the hand. (Diodorus) The three slings were of different lengths, for stones of different sizes; the largest they hurled with as much force as if it were flung from a catapult; and they seldom missed their mark. To this exercise they were trained from infancy, in order to earn their livelihood as mercenary soldiers. It is said that the mothers allowed their children to eat bread only when they had struck it off a post with the sling.[15]

The Phoenicians took possession of the islands in very early times;[16] a remarkable trace of their colonisation is preserved in the town of Mago (Maó in Menorca). After the fall of Carthage, the islands seem to have been virtually independent. Notwithstanding their celebrity in war, the people were generally very quiet and inoffensive.[17] The Romans, however, easily found a pretext for charging them with complicity with the Mediterranean pirates, and they were conquered by Q. Caecilius Metellus, thence surnamed Balearicus, in 123 BC.[18] Metellus settled 3,000 Roman and Spanish colonists on the larger island, and founded the cities of Palma and Pollentia.[19] The islands belonged, under the Roman Empire, to the conventus of Carthago Nova (modern Cartagena), in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis, of which province they formed the fourth district, under the government of a praefectus pro legato. An inscription of the time of Nero mentions the PRAEF. PRAE LEGATO INSULAR. BALIARUM. (Orelli, No. 732, who, with Muratori, reads pro for prae.) They were afterwards made a separate province, called Hispania Balearica, probably in the division of the empire under Constantine.[20]

The two largest islands (the Balearic Islands, in their historical sense) had numerous excellent harbours, though rocky at their mouth, and requiring care in entering them (Strabo, Eustath.; Port Mahon is one of the finest harbours in the world). Both were extremely fertile in all produce, except wine and olive oil.[21] They were celebrated for their cattle, especially for the mules of the lesser island; they had an immense number of rabbits, and were free from all venomous reptiles.[22] Amongst the snails valued by the Romans as a diet was a species from the Balearic isles called cavaticae because they were bred in caves.[23] Their chief mineral product was the red earth, called sinope, which was used by painters.[24] Their resin and pitch are mentioned by Dioscorides.[25] The population of the two islands is stated by Diodorus at 30,000.

The part of the Mediterranean east of Spain, around the Balearic Isles, was called Mare Balearicum,[26] or Sinus Balearicus.[27]

Medieval period

Late Roman and early Islamic eras

The Vandals under Genseric conquered the Islands sometime between 461 and 468 during their war on the Roman Empire. However, in late 533 or early 534, following the Battle of Ad Decimum, the troops of Belisarius reestablished control of the islands for the Byzantine Empire. Imperial power receded precipitately in the western Mediterranean after the fall of Carthage and the Exarchate of Africa to the Umayyad Caliphate in 698, and in 707 the islands submitted to the terms of an Umayyad fleet, which allowed the residents to maintain their traditions and religion as well as a high degree of autonomy. Now nominally both Byzantine and Umayyad, the de facto independent islands occupied a strategic and profitable grey area between the competing religions and kingdoms of the western Mediterranean. The prosperous islands were thoroughly sacked by the SwedishViking King Björn Ironside and his brother Hastein during their Mediterranean raid of 859–862.

In 902, the heavy use of the islands as a pirate base provoked the Emirate of Córdoba, nominally the island's overlords, to invade and incorporate the islands into their state. However, the Cordoban emirate disintegrated in civil war and partition in the early eleventh century, breaking into smaller states called taifa. Mujahid al-Siqlabi, the ruler of the Taifa of Dénia, sent a fleet and seized control of the islands in 1015, using it as the base for subsequent expeditions to Sardinia and Pisa. In 1050, the island's governor Abd Allah ibn Aglab rebelled and established the independent Taifa of Mallorca.

The crusade sacked Palma in 1115 and generally reduced the islands, ending its period as a great sea power, but then withdrew. Within a year, the now shattered islands were conquered by the BerberAlmoravid dynasty, whose aggressive, militant approach to religion mirrored that of the crusaders and departed from the island's history as a tolerant haven under Cordoba and the taifa. The Almoravids were conquered and deposed in North Africa and on the Iberian Peninsula by the rival Almohad Dynasty of Marrakech in 1147. Muhammad ibn Ganiya, the Almoravid claimant, fled to Palma and established his capital there. His dynasty, the Banu Ghaniya, sought allies in their effort to recover their kingdom from the Almohads, leading them to grant Genoa and Pisa their first commercial concessions on the islands. In 1184, an expedition was sent to recapture Ifriqiya (the coastal areas of what is today Tunisia, eastern Algeria, and western Libya) but ended in defeat. Fearing reprisals, the inhabitants of the Balearics rebelled against the Almoravids and accepted Almohad suzerainty in 1187.

Reconquista

On the last day of 1229, King James I of Aragon captured Palma after a three-month siege. The rest of Mallorca quickly followed. Menorca fell in 1232 and Ibiza in 1235. In 1236, James traded most of the islands to Peter I, Count of Urgell for Urgell, which he incorporated into his kingdom. Peter ruled from Palma, but after his death without issue in 1258, the islands reverted by the terms of the deal to the Crown of Aragon.

James died in 1276, having partitioned his domains between his sons in his will. The will created a new Kingdom of Mallorca from the Balearic islands and the mainland counties of Roussillon or Montpellier, which was left to his son James II. However, the terms of the will specified that the new kingdom be a vassal state to the Kingdom of Aragon, which was left to his older brother Peter. Chafing under the vassalage, James joined forces with the Pope Martin IV and Philip III of France against his brother in the Aragonese Crusade, leading to a 10-year Aragonese occupation before the islands were restored in the 1295 Treaty of Anagni. The tension between the kingdoms continued through the generations until James' grandson James III was killed by the invading army of Peter's grandson Peter IV at the 1349 Battle of Llucmajor. The Balearic Islands were then incorporated directly into the kingdom of Aragon.

Modern period

In 1469, Ferdinand II of Aragon (king of Aragon) and Isabella I of Castile (queen of Castile) were married. After their deaths, their respective territories (until then governed separately) were governed jointly, in the person of their grandson, the Emperor Charles V. This can be considered the foundation of the modern Spanish state, albeit a decentralised one wherein the various component territories within the united crowns retained their particular historic laws and privileges.

Menorca was finally returned to Spain by the Treaty of Amiens during the French Revolutionary Wars, following the last British occupation, which lasted from 1798 to 1802. The continued presence of British naval forces, however, meant that the Balearic Islands were never occupied by the French during the Napoleonic Wars.

Languages

Both Catalan and Spanish are official languages in the islands. Catalan is designated as a "llengua pròpia", literally "own language" in its statute of autonomy. The Balearic dialect features several differences from standard Catalan. Practically all residents of the Balearic Islands speak Spanish fluently. In 2003 74.6% of the Islands' residents also knew how to speak Catalan and 93.1% could understand it.[30] Other languages, such as English, German, French and Italian, are often spoken by locals, especially those who work in the tourism industry.

Circa 2017 there were 1,115,999 residents of the Balearics; 16.7% of the islands' population were foreign (non-Spanish). At that time the islands had 23,919 Moroccans, 19,209 Germans, 16,877 Italians, and 14,981 British registered in town halls. The next-largest foreign groups were the Romanians; the Bulgarians; the Argentines, numbering at 6,584; the French; the Colombians; and the Ecuadoreans, numbering at 5,437.[32]

Circa 2016 the islands had 1,107,220 total residents; the figures of Germans and British respectively were 20,451 and 16,134. Between 2016 and 2017 people from other parts of Spain moved to the Balearics, while the foreign population declined by 2,000. In 2007 there were 29,189 Germans, 19,803 British, 17,935 Moroccans, 13,100 Ecuadoreans, 11,933 Italians, and 11,129 Argentines. The numbers of Germans, British, and South Americans declined between 2007 and 2017 while the largest-increasing populations were the Moroccans, Italians, and Romanians.[32]

Administration

Each one of the three main islands is administered, along with its surrounding minor islands and islets, by an insular council (consell insular in Catalan) of the same name. These four insular councils are the first level of subdivision in the autonomous community (and province) of the Baleares.

Before the administrative reform of 1977, the two insular councils of Ibiza and Formentera were forming in a single one (covering the whole group of the Pitiusic Islands).

This level is further subdivided into six comarques only in the insular council of Mallorca; the three other insular councils are not subdivided into separate comarques, but are themselves assimilated each one to a comarca covering the same territory as the insular council.

These nine comarques are then subdivided into municipalities (municipis), with the exception of Formentera, which is at the same time an insular council, a comarca, and a municipality.

Note that the maritime and terrestrial natural reserves in the Balearic Islands are not owned by the municipalities, even if they fall within their territory, but are owned and managed by the respective insular councils from which they depend.

Those municipalities are further subdivided into civil parishes (parròquies), that are slightly larger than the traditional religious parishes, themselves subdivided (only in Ibiza and Formentera) into administrative villages (named véndes in Catalan); each vénda is grouping several nearby hamlets (casaments) and their immediate surrounding lands—these casaments are traditionally formed by grouping together several cubic houses to form a defensive parallelepiped with windows open to the east (against heat), sharing their collected precious water resources, whose residents are deciding and planning some common collective works.

However, these last levels of subdivisions of municipalities do not have their own local administration: they are mostly as the natural economical units for agricultural exploitation (and consequently referenced in local norms for constructions and urbanisation as well) and are the reference space for families (so they may be appended to the names of peoples and their land and housing properties) and are still used in statistics. Historically, these structures have been used for defensive purpose as well, and were more tied to the local Catholic church and parishes (notably after the Reconquista).

References

Guide to yacht clubs and marinas in Spain: Costa Blanca, Costa del Azahar, Islas Baleares (Madrid: Ministry of Transportation, Tourism and Communications, General Office of the Secretary of Tourism, General Office of Tourism Companies and Activities, 1987)

External links

In 1114, an expedition to the Balearic Islands, then a Muslim taifa, was launched in the form of a Crusade. Founded on a treaty of 1113 between the Republic of Pisa and Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, the expedition had the support of Pope Paschal II and the participation of many lords of Catalonia and Occitania, as well as contingents from northern and central Italy, Sardinia, and Corsica. The Crusaders were perhaps inspired by the Norwegian king Sigurd I's attack on Formentera in 1108 or 1109 during the Norwegian Crusade. The expedition ended in 1115 in the conquest of the Balearics, but only until the next year. The main source for the event is the Pisan Liber maiolichinus, completed by 1125.

The avarca (Catalan pronunciation: [əˈβaɾkə], plural avarques) is a type of sandal popular in the Balearic Islands (Spain), especially Menorca. The shoes are made using a leather upper and a rubber sole. Avarca is a traditional sandal originally developed in Menorca in the Balearic Islands. They were originally made from a leather upper and with the sole made from a recycled car tyre. Nowadays however the soles are made in the style of a car tire but from a purpose made mould. These are hard wearing and much lighter in weight than the original car tire sole. Only original avarca manufacturers are granted with the label " Avarca de Menorca ". This label is granted by local Government and guarantees that avarcas accomplishes minimum quality standards and avarcas are really manufactured in Menorca island.

Formentera (Catalan pronunciation: [furmənˈteɾə], Spanish: [foɾmenˈteɾa]) is the smallest and more southerly island of the Pityusic Islands group (comprising Ibiza and Formentera, as well as various small islets), which belongs to the Balearic Islands autonomous community (Spain).

Inca (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈiŋkə]) is a town on the Spanish island of Majorca. The population of the municipality is 25,900 (2004) in an area of 58.4 km².

There is a junction station Majorca rail network with trains to Palma, the island's capital, to Sa Pobla, and to Manacor.

Inca is home of the footwear company "Camper".

Inca is known for its wine cellars. The town, like its neighboring municipality Binissalem, was a mass producer of wine from the 17th to 19th centuries when phylloxera destroyed the industry and its inhabitants turned to other activities such as tanning and leather craftsmanship. Many old wine cellars are being used as restaurants for serving traditional Mallorcan dishes like sopes mallorquines, tombet and gató d'ametlles.

Maó-Mahón, sometimes written in English as Mahon () (Catalan: Maó [məˈo], Spanish: Mahón [maˈon]) is a municipality, the capital city of the island of Menorca, and seat of the Island Council of Menorca. The city is located on the eastern coast of the island, which is part of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands, Spain. Maó-Mahón has one of the largest natural harbours in the world: 5 km (3.1 mi) long and up to 900 metres (2,953 feet) wide. The water is deep but it remains mostly clear due to it being slightly enclosed. It is also said to be the birthplace of mayonnaise.

Mallorca (Catalan: [məˈʎɔɾkə], Spanish: [maˈʎoɾka]), or Majorca (), is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The native language, as on the rest of the Balearic Islands, is Catalan, which is co-official with Spanish.

The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Balearic Islands have been an autonomous region of Spain since 1983. There are two small islands off the coast of Mallorca: Cabrera (southeast of Palma) and Dragonera (west of Palma). The anthem of Mallorca is "La Balanguera".

Like the other Balearic Islands of Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera, the island is an extremely popular holiday destination, particularly for tourists from Germany and the United Kingdom. The international airport, Palma de Mallorca Airport, is one of the busiest in Spain; it was used by 28.0 million passengers in 2017, increasing every year since 2012.The name derives from Classical Latin insula maior, "larger island". Later, in Medieval Latin, this became Maiorica, "the larger one", in comparison to Menorca, "the smaller one".

Més per Mallorca (English: More for Majorca, MÉS) is a Majorcan political coalition formed by Socialist Party of Majorca (PSM), IniciativaVerds (IV) and Entesa per Mallorca (ExM), as well as some small independent, local parties around the island. It was created in 2010 by the PSM, Left Initiative (Iniciativa) and The Greens (EV) under the name PSM–Iniciativa–Verds. After the merger of Iniciativa and EV into IV in 2010, and with the incorporation of ExM in 2011, it was renamed as PSM–IniciativaVerds–Entesa. In 2013, the current name was adopted.

Més per Menorca (English: More for Menorca, MpM) is a Menorcan political party. It was a coalition formed by the Socialist Party of Menorca, Republican Left, The Greens of Menorca, Equo, local parties and independents around the island until 2017. MpM was created in July 2014. Until May 2017 it had been linked to the similarly-named alliance in Majorca.

An Ottoman raid on the Balearic Islands occurred in 1501 under the Ottoman admiral Kemal Reis. This raid was combined with attacks on Sardinia and Pianosa (near the island of Elba).The 1501 raid on the Balearics followed some of the earliest interventions of the Ottomans in the western Mediterranean. These interventions were in response to the Fall of Granada and the help the last Muslim ruler there had requested from the Ottoman Empire in his fight against Castile. Upon this request, the Ottoman sultan Bayezid sent a fleet under Kemal Reis to attack the Spanish coast. In 1487 and again in 1492 when Granada fell, the Ottoman fleet was used to rescue refugees and ferry them to the coast of North Africa.A side effect of the raid seems to have been that a Spanish sailor was captured in possession of an early map of Columbus.

Palma de Mallorca, since December 2016 Palma ( or , Catalan: [ˈpalmə], Spanish: [ˈpalma]), is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of Mallorca on the Bay of Palma. The Cabrera Archipelago, though widely separated from Palma proper, is administratively considered part of the municipality. As of 2018, Palma de Mallorca Airport serves over 29 million passengers per year.

The Parliament of the Balearic Islands (Catalan: Parlament de les Illes Balears) is the unicameral autonomous parliament of the Balearic Islands, one of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Parliament, composed of 59 elected seats, is located in the city of Palma, on the island of Majorca.

In the 2015 Balearic parliamentary election the People's Party (PP) lost its majority, falling to 20 seats in the legislature. Following this, a PSOE and Més government was installed with the support of Podem.

Proposta per les Illes (Catalan for "Proposal for the Islands"), or simply El Pi (pi means pine in Catalan) is a liberal Balearic autonomist political party, formed in November 2012 from the merger of several nationalist and regionalist parties: Convergència per les Illes (the successor of the Majorcan Union), the Lliga Regionalista de les Illes Balears, the Menorcan Union and Es Nou Partit. The party's two main leaders are Jaume Font (erstwhile leader of the Lliga Regionalista) and Josep Melià (erstwhile leader of Convergència). As the merger of parties from Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza, el PI has elected representatives on each of these three islands, including 6 mayors and 82 councillors in 34 municipalities.

The Republican Left of Catalonia (Catalan: Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC; IPA: [əsˈkɛrə rəpubːliˈkanə ðə kətəˈluɲə]) is a Catalan nationalist and social democratic political party in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia. It is also the main sponsor of the independence movement from France and Spain in the territories known among Catalan nationalists as Països Catalans. Occitan Republican Left, formed in 2008, acts as the Aranese section of the party.

Its current president is Oriol Junqueras and its secretary-general is Marta Rovira. The party is a member of the European Free Alliance.

The Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands–PSOE (Catalan: Partit Socialista de les Illes Balears–PSOE) is the regional branch in the Balearic Islands of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), main centre-left party in Spain since the 1970s.

The University of the Balearic Islands (Catalan: Universitat de les Illes Balears, UIB; IPA: [univəɾsiˈtad də ləz ˈiʎəz βələˈas]; Spanish: Universidad de las Islas Baleares) is a Balearic Spanish university, founded in 1978 and located in Palma on the island of Majorca.

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